A systems biology approach to unravel the underlying functional modules of ASD

This project will investigate autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from the systems biology perspective with the aim of defining the protein networks and functional modules that are relevant to the disease. To achieve this goal, an integrative approach will be used to build an autism protein-protein interaction network that includes autism risk genes, their brain-expressed splice variants, and mutant transcripts of the genes that are disrupted by the breakpoints of genomic deletions and duplications in autistic patients. The results of this study will increase knowledge of the causes of autism and of cognitive development. The discovery of specific pathways, networks, and modules that functionally connect seemingly unrelated autism candidate genes will help researchers understand the molecular mechanisms of ASD development and identify potential therapeutic targets.